Rise and Fall
The bilateral commission charged with coordinating U.S. and Canadian policies on the Great Lakes released a draft plan for regulating water levels in Lake Ontario. The proposal will keep the lake closer to natural flow patterns: water levels during high and average conditions will be kept higher, and kept lower under low flows.

Great Lakes Wind
The Obama administration and five Great Lakes states announced a plan to coordinate regulatory processes for offshore wind power projects in the nation’s largest bodies of surface water. On a conference call, Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman said that the agreement “makes sure we are efficient in processing projects that come forward.”

Carbon Rules
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced limits on carbon emissions from new power plants. The rule—which caps carbon dioxide output at 1,000 lbs per megawatt-hour—will apply to facilities that begin construction 12 months from now. Yet, with energy economics turned upside down by the natural gas boom, the EPA and the Department of Energy acknowledge that new plants, largely gas-powered, are expected to meet the new standard “even in the absence of the rule.”

The agency is still mulling emissions regulations for the nation’s existing fleet of power stations.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the EPA released the results from the first round of groundwater testing in a town that has become the eastern epicenter of contention over the effects of fracking. Tests from the first 11 homes in Dimock revealed high methane levels that pose a risk of explosion, but the EPA claimed that the water “did not show levels of contamination that could present a health concern,” according to Bloomberg News.

EPA and the CourtsGreenwire reports that EPA lawyers, in a recent case argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, failed to include relevant information in the official record, meaning that it was not reviewed by the justices. The court ruled unanimously against the federal government, saying that property owners can have a judge review EPA orders regarding water pollution. Agency documents acquired by the Natural Resources Defense Council show that the plaintiffs knew that their land was classified a wetland.

The EPA is also being sued in federal court by several environmental organizations that would like a timetable for setting air pollution regulations for power plants in the Four Corners region, the Associated Press reports.

In Texas, the EPA decided to drop a groundwater-pollution lawsuit against an energy company drilling in the Barnett shale formation, Bloomberg News reports. The agency and Range Resources have agreed to test more wells in the area to find the pollution source, which the company claims is not connected to gas drilling.

Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.